A serving of sports commentary each weekday come noontime

The NFL, along with your replacement officials, is the laughingstock of professional sports.

We might be watching, but not for the reason you want.

The inevitable happened Monday night, when a refereeing blunder changed the outcome of a game. To make it worse, the gaffe happened on "Monday Night Football," the game's most high-profile stage, and to the Green Bay Packers, one of the league's most high-profile teams.

Is there any more telling picture of this whole referee mess than one official signaling touchdown and the other signaling touchback?

The mistake was compounded by replay officials in the booth (NFL employees, not replacements), who upheld the ruling of simultaneous possession despite what replays made clear to those of us watching on television.

The NFL issued a statement Tuesday morning that the officials erred in not calling offensive pass interference, a flag that would have made any simultaneous possession ruling moot. Yet the NFL said it supports the replay official's decision not to overturn the touchdown.

"The result is final," the league said in its statement.

So what we have is a win Seattle stole, and a game-winning touchdown for Golden Tate that he didn't earn.

Green Bay fans and players have every right to be livid.

Would the "real" officials — Ed Hochuli and Co. — make the right call in the same situation? It was as tricky a final play as we've seen in years, but I trust the top-flight experienced officials would have at least understood the situation.

It would not have become a joke.

Goodell and NFL owners need to settle their dispute with the NFL Referees Association today. It's lunchtime now. By dinner, have that new CBA ready.

I understand the two sides have significant financial disagreements relating to salaries and pensions.

But if this doesn't change soon, it won't just be the media and fans and the Twittersphere that are angry.

NFL players are nearing the point of mutiny.

Check out this series of Tweets from NFL players form the last 12 hours:

• Saints quarterback Drew Brees: "Ironic that our league punishes those based on conduct detrimental. Whose CONDUCT is DETRIMENTAL now?"

• Packers tight end Thomas Crabtree: "The 13th Man beat us tonight."

• Packers offensive lineman T.J. Lang: "We just got [expletive] by the refs. Thanks NFL." Followed by: "Any player/coach in Seattle that really thinks they won that game has zero integrity as a man and should be embarrassed."

• Denver tight end Jacob Tamme: "The problem isn't even the call. It's the way the call was made. One ref = TD. Other ref with better view starts to signal touchback. Bad. Gotta communicate, talk it out and then give a definitive signal."

• Denver defensive end Robert Ayers: "Wow. This might be worse than the [Manny Pacquio] fight. SMH."

Officials signal after Seahawks wide receiver Golden Tate pulled in a last-second pass for a touchdown from quarterback Russell Wilson to defeat the Packers 14-12 on Monday in Seattle. (Joshua Trujillo, The Associated Press)

Packers linebacker Clay Matthews even posted Goodell's direct line to his New York office on Facebook.

"Simultaneous Possession" or "Touchception" or "Intertouchdown" — whatever we choose to call it from here on out — wasn't the only mistake in the first three weeks of the regular season without the regular officials. We've seen phantom pass-interference calls, a field goal that maybe-or-maybe-not cleared the goalposts in Baltimore, a near brawl after a fumble in Atlanta, extra timeouts, incorrect penalty markoffs and other general misinterpretations of the rules.

Please, Goodell, end this farce now, so we can get back to focusing on the football.

Visit denverpost.com each weekday near noontime for a serving of dish concerning Colorado's sporting landscape from a Denver Post sports writer. Care for another helping? Visit the Lunch Special archive.

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